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Clariant Collaborates with Pertamina in the Field of Advanced Biofuel Assessment
Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemicals company, has been working with Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company since 2018 to evaluate and test the feasibility of Clariant's sunliquid technology to process regional feedstocks available in Indonesia into cutting edge biofuel, cellulosic ethanol. Indonesia has enormous untapped biomass potential, from empty fruit bunches to palm oil leaves that can be converted into cellulosic ethanol. Their utilization is currently neglected, and until recently, the two raw materials were often burned, which resulted in air pollution. A dramatic increase in ethanol demand is expected in Indonesia, this is mainly driven by the national mandate of E10 ethanol blends.
Advanced fuel technology solutions, such as the Clariant's sunliquid® process, are essential to match feedstock potential to the country's growing demand for ethanol. Pertamina and Clariant have been investigating how to bridge this gap since 2018. The initial collaboration focused on analyzing techno-economic performance and testing empty fruit bunches and oil palm leaves. The final results of the evaluation show that the sunliquid® technology has succeeded in converting the two raw materials into cellulosic ethanol while achieving good conversion results
Then, in a conceptual engineering study carried out recently, the balance of processes, system specifications, and process economics is calculated in detail. This is the basis for Pertamina's consideration to continue investing in commercial biofuel production facilities on a commercial scale. "We are very pleased that Pertamina, a well-known energy company in Indonesia, has chosen our sunliquid® process for this technology and raw material assessment, as well as for the process design study for a commercial scale factory based on regional raw materials," said Christian Librera, Vice President and Head of Business Line Biofuels and Derivatives, Clariant.
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